So You Want To Raise Sheep?

Last night Sombra's prolapse was gone, but a tiny bit of membrane was dangling from her back end. That's not good. I examined her and felt a bit of lamb face behind her tight cervix, which never wanted to go past three fingers. A disturbing odor told me this lamb was dead. My beautiful, big, black, healthy, robust ewe had a festering fetus inside her. I had a very restless night. This morning, nothing had progressed. I called in sheep, never easy for me to do but having the amazing Robin in my room helps assuage the guilt. Called the vet service and woke the nice lady up, who called Dr. Rachel, who called right back and told me I could do the same thing that she would do and that would be to get the dead lambs out. Easier said than done. Matt put skid marks in the snow getting out of here, calling, "I have a class waiting for me!" And there we were. I kept going back inside to get this and that, putting off the inevitable, but when Sombra lay down and looked just awful I decided that I had to woman-up. She tried to help me, but she was still only dilated about two inches. I felt something and grabbed it, pulling steadily and downward. I had the jaw bone, but it pulled away as I feared it would. The lamb was coming apart. For the next two hours I pulled and pulled on any hoofs, bones and flesh I could grab with three finger tips. Gas and fluids bubbled out, bits of flesh and bone tore off. I tried a rope but after securing it to something it pulled away too. I got what was a small lamb out, counting legs to hopefully get it all, when I realized there was probably another one in there. I went back inside to belt down some coffee and mixed some molasses in warm water for Sombra. Back in the pen and made her drink some of the sweet water to give her strength. Our shared ordeal was not over. Unfortunately she was positioned so that I had to sit with bent knees scrunched in the corner. Sombra must weigh 200 pounds and there was no moving her. Poor girl kept on pushing as I pulled. Some hefty hind quarters came out a centimeter at a time. I can't believe she didn't start to dilate as I was doing this. I had spent some time rubbing the cervix prior to starting, just as I heard other shepherds talking about in their lambing stories, but this bottleneck just didn't want to give way. I was afraid of tearing it with my efforts, but it held. As I pulled what I thought was the last of the second lamb out, a big gush of fluid and gas expelled and her belly caved a bit. I gave her a big dose of LA200 antibiotic, oxytocin to make her uterus contract and get rid of any tissue I left in there, along with Banamine for pain. She is flat out, panting. I can't tell you what was going through my mind through all this. Some things I just can't share. You find out what you are made of when you are alone in a barn with an animal you care about who is in a desperate situation. Nobody should have to go through something like this alone. Someday when I am living in cozy Morristown working as Mia's cook and nanny and writing my memoirs at night, I'll look back on all this and marvel at myself. Did I really do that? Now to go out and check on my poor Sombra. I hope she's still alive.